Boston University CTE Center and Brain Bank

[2] Symptoms from CTE do not typically appear in a subject until many years after the initial injuries, and a conclusive diagnosis of the disease can only be achieved through autopsy.

[6] Dr. Ann McKee acts is the Director for the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank and Boston University CTE Center, leading her team of researchers during group and individual case studies.

[3] When the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank formally opened in 2008, it became the first tissue repository in the world fully dedicated to the study of CTE.

[3] The goal of the Boston University CTE Center is to collect and study post-mortem brains to better understand the long-term diseases associated with head trauma.

[3] The directors of the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank work with families of former athletes and veterans to create a well-rounded database that researchers can utilize during large CTE case studies.

These brains come from players involved in every different level of football and have been at the forefront of some of the most important CTE case studies over the past decade.

[4] The first major American football study conducted by the BU CTE Center involved the donated brains of 79 former NFL players.

In the second stage of CTE, the tau protein is observed in multiple areas of the cerebral cortex, as the p-tau pathology begins to spread across sulci.

In stage III CTE, the tau protein becomes widespread, with the greatest severity located in the frontal and temporal lobes.

[1][14] In the study, researchers noted that microscopic signs of p-tau pathology were primarily observed in subjects with Stage III and IV CTE.

These increased donations allowed for a larger case study, which would give researchers an opportunity to paint a clearer picture of the disease in a brain.

[9] In April 2017, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in a jail cell at the age of 27.

Hernandez's suicide occurred just months after he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The posthumous examination of the brain showed that Hernandez suffered from stage III CTE, which had previously only been diagnosed in former American football players who were well into their 60s before their deaths.

[15] According to Dr. McKee, Hernandez's brain presented a classic case of CTE, as multiple groupings of the tau protein could be seen in frontal lobes.

These p-tau deposits developed in close proximity to small blood vessels in the brain and spread to areas that control perception, memory, and emotion.

In the autopsy report from Boston University, Dr. McKee explains that Hernandez's brain was one of the most intact specimens her team had ever examined.

[8][17] As CTE continues to gain notoriety, research focus has shifted to developing a test for diagnosing the disease in a living person.